Valley of Rephaim

The Valley of Rephaim is a valley that descends southwest from Jerusalem toward the Nahal Sorek streambed, forming an ancient route between the coastal plain and the Judean Hills. Its name is traditionally linked to the Rephaim, a legendary race of giants, and the Emek Refaim neighborhood in Jerusalem's German Colony district is named after it. The valley is mentioned in the Book of Joshua and, in the second Book of Samuel, as the site of battles between the forces of King David and the Philistines, including a victory remembered as Baal Perazim. It also holds Er-Ras, a farming complex terraced during the Iron Age, and is crossed along its full length by the Jaffa to Jerusalem railway.